Nature: Visible & InvisibleNature: Visible & Invisible
Jeffrey T. KiehlClimate Change Research Section
National Center for Atmospheric Research
Jeffrey T. KiehlClimate Change Research Section
National Center for Atmospheric Research
Nature: Visible & InvisibleNature: Visible & Invisible
VisibleScientific ObservationsClimate Model SimulationsPersonal Experiences
InvisibleLoss of Lived WorldPsyche & Nature’s Interiority
VisibleScientific ObservationsClimate Model SimulationsPersonal Experiences
InvisibleLoss of Lived WorldPsyche & Nature’s Interiority
0
5
1 0
1 5
0
5
1 0
1 5
2 0
2 5
0 2 0 4 0 6 0 8 0 1 0 0
Comparison of Greenhouse Gas ProjectionsAgainst Geologic History of Global Temperatures
Glob. Temp. ChangeIPCC 2100Maximum Emission Scenario
Glo
bal T
empe
ratu
re C
hang
e fr
om P
rese
nt (°
C)
Global Tem
perature Change from
Present (°F)
Age (Millions of Years Ago)
(AD 2200-2300?)
High ClimateSensitivity
LowClimate Sensitivity
(Geol. Data)
(No Arctic/Greenland ice, small Antarctic Ice Sheet)
(Low, Middle, High)
PastPresent
Crowley(2001)
He who begins with facts will never arrive at essences
Jean-Paul Sartre
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored
Aldous Huxley
Arising QuestionsArising Questions
Why do we treat Nature as we do?How does Nature become invisible?What do we lose when Nature becomes
invisible?What is the connection between our
values and our actions towards Nature?
Why do we treat Nature as we do?How does Nature become invisible?What do we lose when Nature becomes
invisible?What is the connection between our
values and our actions towards Nature?
Nature Visible Nature Invisible
Coal Plant Carbon Dioxide Warming Greenhouse Effect Local Region Remote Region Present Future Embodied Disembodied Connected Disconnected Remembered Forgotten Conscious Unconscious
Individual
Society
Patterns:Character Structures
Personality TraitsTypology
Patterns:InstinctualArchetypal
Psychology & Environment
Behaviors
Behaviors
Change in conscious perspective
Requires opening up to imagining other ways, other purposes, other perspectives
Requires relative position in world
Requires connecting to other ways of knowing (e.g. feeling, intuition)
Ability to connect depends on what we value
Exploring the Visible and Invisible Worlds of Nature
Phenomenology of the Outer World
Phenomenology of the Inner World
Being-in-the-World
• Lived Space• Lived Time• Lived Body• Lived Relationship
• Dreams• Synchronicities• Somatic• Narrative
Values
Collective Manifestation Personal Manifestation
MythReligions
Belief Systems
DevelopmentCenters of Affect
Narrative
Sense of WholenessInterconnectedness
Dante’s City of Dis reserved for intellectual sins
Round 1 Violence against othersRound 2 Violence against selfRound 3 Violence against NaturePunishment: Left naked on burning sands with fire raining down from unnatural clouds
In a dark time the eye begins to seeTheodore Roethke
Without deep reflection, we have taken on the story of endings, assumed the story of extinction… We need new stories…a new narrative that would imagine another way, to learn the infinite mystery and movement at work in the world.
Linda Hogan
“The nature we see and the nature we feel, the one out there and the one in here,both must permeate each other in order to last, to live.” van Gogh
Visible Videre weid-
O.E. wiseGr. form, eidosGr. Hades, underworld, ‘invisible world’Skt. knowledge, veda